Start Over Again
by wierdo4ever yo
Summary: ...
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

"Mankind.

The 'superior' life form.

The most 'intelligent' organism.

So superior and intelligent, in fact, that the vast majority of their race are hell-bent on their own destruction.

And they don't even know it.

Destroying their atmosphere.

Polluting their water.

Depleting their resources.

Killing each other.

Killing themselves.

Their creative stupidity is astounding and seemingly unending.

The very air they breath isn't as healthy as it once was.

Something must be done."

That was the last journal entry of Allen Finch before the start of his gradual and strategic rise to power. To put it simple, the world went down the tubes. It was illegal to swim at some beaches because of the diseases the polluted waters produce. Coal, gas, oil, and other fossil fuels were a rare find… if you found them at all. Ozone got bad enough that if more than ten minutes was spent outside on a summer day, your risk of skin cancer would increase by fifty percent. Murder rates stayed about the same because of the threat presented by simply being outside but people grew spoiled by their new technologies and would get angrier and angrier when they did not get their way. Due to that, the percent of the adult population that was married dropped below four, people preferring to not have to "help someone else through life", many resorting to other things which I will not delve into in these writings. All their surgeries, all their steroids, all their laziness, all their now legal drugs, destroying the very bodies their sick souls resided in.

Allen finch believed it to be painfully obvious that they were not going to fix themselves and would certainly not allow anyone else to do it for them. They enjoyed it. To Allen, this was deeply disturbing. So, he founded T.A.T.

T.A.T. stood for: Technology Advancement Today. And it did exactly what it sounds like. They made all manner of new scientific discoveries that revolutionized the human way of life.

Allen's father was rich… and dieing. Allen, being the eldest child and only son, got the bulk of the inheritance. That, combined with his own success, meant that T.A.T. had plenty money available. On its first day in existence, Allen's company researched, located, contacted, bribed and eventually hired all the smartest scientists, engineers, electronics experts, and etc from all around the world. Their purpose known to the public was "to make life easier and more interesting".

But Allen's motives stayed secret.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

"Sit my friends and let me tell you a story. A story of how I came to be where and what I am today."

"Once upon a time there was 'me' and 'me' was very inconsiderately discarded to the side of the road by his parents on their way to a city or something, I have no idea. The point is: I would have died were it not for the Five. 'The Five' is short for 'The Five Heroes'. I will explain where and how they got there name later in my tale. Anyway, the Five were coming down the road and they saw me. Stones wanted to leave me but Steven objected. Stones tried to argue but one look from Steven was enough to quiet him.

The Five were wanderers at the time and had a ways to go before the next town. With that in mind and the factor of me being a recently born child, the plan was to sustain me with Albert's expertise in nutrition and herb lore until they could drop me off with a caring family in the next town.

But as they traveled, Steven came to care greatly for me, saying he wanted to "personally see me through to manhood" and that he would take responsibility for any hindrance to the others of the Five that I may be the cause of."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

"Allow me to describe the Five so you may better grasp the manner in which I was raised.

"Because of all the hardships he faced as a youth, Steven was a very solemn person who often frowned at any humor that went further than an ironic comment about the current situation, but he was a caring person who did not in the least bit enjoy the pain of others, which is why he formed their little group. His weapon was a Naga Kris dagger (a wicked looking dagger with a blade curved similarly to a serpent). He wore no armor, only his black outfit, his black shoes, his black fingerless plate knuckles gloves, and his dark green cloak. As far as appearances go, he was a tall man of six foot four, lanky but somewhat muscled with short dark brown hair, a goatee and brown eyes. His back was nearly covered in scars but he refused to tell me what they were from or anything else about his past, only that it was rough. He was a smart and sneaky man. He was also more of a father than a mentor to me of age thirty six when I was found.

"Albert was the oldest and likely wisest of the group of age fifty at my discovery. He was an expert at using various substances and materials for all manner of purposes. He was a great cook, a healer, a pyrotechnic, and he made all manner of poisons with all kinds of diverse effects on the body and mind. No armor did he wear since the only combat he had anything to do with were the 'jobs' we occasionally got and then he was the mastermind. He loved fishing with a pole or net and would hunt with a bow or with net also.

"Oddball was definitely the strangest person I ever have or likely will meet. As a youth he dwelled in the forests and lived in the tree tops. Large hands were attached to small arms and small feet to small legs, both of which attached to an equally small body. His light brown hair grew just as wild as the look in his eyes. A pair of dark green shorts with stitched in leather greaves, a pair of thick leather boots with metal shin and knee plates and metal hooked spikes around the bottom of the boot and on the sole, and metal claws shaped similarly to eagle talons was all he wore, no shirts. When asked where these were from he would just smile and say 'stolen' the walk away talking to himself and his pet squirrel. Sometimes I honestly wondered about his sanity. He was only twenty two when they found me.

"The last two were brothers. First I will describe Sticks who was the older of the two at thirty one when I joined. He was the type of guy who would get stared at and followed by women in every town we passed through or did work for. His blonde hair, blue eyes, pretty face, and decent amount of muscle may have had something to do with it. He was always looking at his reflection when he was near something that presented it. He and Stones' family was filthy rich so he was able to pay a crafter to make his two handed sword and thick leather armor. The sword was basically a katana made thicker both from side to side and front to back but not any longer than normal. The leather armor, as I said, was thick on his back, chest, shoulders, forearms thighs, and shins above his leather hiking boots. The back armor also hung down to cover his rear end. Under the armor he wore thin leather pants and a long sleeve shirt to help protect himself but still maintain flexibility. He also wore a pair of leather gloves. He wore no head or neck protection, likely to show off his face, even though he was a melee person. He was average height and slightly more muscled than average build.

"Sticks' brother Stones was twenty eight and also average height but with much more muscles and very wide shoulders, so wide in fact that he would occasionally have to turn sideways to enter a doorway. His hair grew long and red on both his head and his face adding to his already startling appearance. He seemed infatuated with his two handed great axe but also had four small throwing axes on his belt that he would throw with great power but little accuracy preferring to launch them in a general direction rather than a specific target, simply put: send four small axes toward group of assailants the mop up what remains with the big one. He did wear armor and he wore a lot of it. He had a full body suit of chain mail with plates attached all over it. The metal used in his suit was steel and was so thick than nothing short of a war hammer could harm the man underneath. He was self centered and grouchy which often gave people a bad first impression of the Five but nonetheless, he was a vital member of the group and deep down he really was a good person… sortof.

"Now that you have an idea of how cool the people I was raised by were you are probably wondering how I came to be so quirkily demented and how my kind helpful companion and I can work together without conflict of opinion. I'll tell you now he does not like the way I work or regard others but he does have to agree that my way is effective even if a little blunt. As for my attitude and way of life goes, I chose at a young age to strive for efficiency and the eradication of my enemies, not popularity."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Anyway, back to my child hood.

"Shortly after I was found I developed a breathing problem and almost died. Albert saved me. Shortly after that I got sick and almost died. Albert saved me again. My training began at four with Oddball. He taught me to run fast and climb high in trees to observe and choose prey.

"Prey is my word for Bullies, I'm sure your all glad to hear it, I wont be completely happy until that whole organization is wiped of the surface of our planet. I assume none of you are the type to say their may be nice Bullies out there, those people are dumb, the Bulies' very initiation involves hurting innocents.

"Anyway, my favorite prey are the big arrogant ones who feel so secure in their own ability that they carry all their money on their person and believe nobody would dare to pickpocket from them. Oddball was a superb pickpocket and within a few years I was as good as him.

"We would often pick a well used forest road near the city or town we were currently camping near, then Oddball would get some panic poison from Albert to scare off anything nasty shortly after the first strike and put it in his special compartments on the right side of his shorts, then we would travel up the road till we found a tree high enough to see a decent ways, then we'd climb to the top and wait. I have slightly bad eyes so Oddball would always be able to tell if someone was a Bully or not before I could. If we saw a Bully coming down the road we would wait till he walked by then Oddball and his squirrel, Stickers, would skitter down quick with their claws and hooks while I slowly descended the old way: grabbing branches or sliding down the trunk, the same thing happened going up. While they waited Oddball would take his claws off and place them in his left pocket. After I got down we would follow the Bully into the city then, once we were in a crowded area, we'd pickpocket anything valuable. This included money, sellable weapons, gems, and anything else we might could sell or barter off for whatever we needed.

"Once, I asked Oddball why he called the squirrel Stickers. He said his great-great-grandfather found the squirrel stuck in a patch of burs or 'stickers' then, before they pulled the plug, he had gotten an 'injected medicine' for the critter that would increase his lifespan dramatically and make him heal a little faster so he would be 'sticking' around for a long time.

"I thought for a moment then asked what 'pulled the plug' meant. At this his face clouded over. 'Pulled the plug' he said, 'was when they turned off the core and nobody knew what to do with themselves. Pulling the plug, is why we have the Bullies to deal with' then he got quiet and walked faster."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"The next day, while I was climbing the tree we had picked, my mind wandered back to the conversation with Oddball the day before. Who was 'they'? What was the core? What did it do? Why was Oddball mad?

"Distracted by these thought, my hand slipped. We had just began climbing so I only fell about twelve feet but at eight years old it was enough to break my arm. I cried out in agony. The worst part was it was my right arm and I'm right handed.

"Stickers zoomed down the tree, skittered up onto my chest and put his cute fuzzy face just two inches from mine and began rapidly chattering at me. He seemed to be saying: 'look what you've done. Are you alright? What's wrong with your arm?'

"Stickers' head turned and looked down the road the snapped its attention back to me chattering even faster than before like he was saying: 'shush! Stop yelling! Bullies are coming!'

"Suddenly I could hear that Oddball's descent down the tree had halted. Stickers scrambled off under a bush. From where I lay between the road and the tree I could see a huge Bully of likely six foot but with shoulders as wide as Stones' approaching. He had the same uniform as all the other Bullies: chain mail body armor with a yellow triangle painted on the chest, leather gloves, leather boots, grey pants, and a square shield slung on his back. This one had a large broadsword for a weapon. By the malevolent look on his face I could tell he intended to inflict pain on anyone he happened across that was smaller than him.

'Why are you fussing?' he asked.

'I fell from this tree.' I replied in pain.

'Have you no friends nearby to call on for aid?'

'No' I whimpered.

'Good' he sneered 'then no one will hear your screams'

"With that said, he raised his left hand and his brown eyes glowed white. Electricity cackled forth from his fingertips and rippled flashing bright over my whole body. When the blinding light was gone my right arm was still the only part of my body that hurt, the ground around me was scorched, my hair was standing up, and Oddball was standing between me and the Bully.

"The Bully drew his sword out and raised it high over his head, running toward Oddball, it came down with such force that it stuck in the ground. Right where Oddball had stood before leaping to one side. Oddball kicked the Bullies face with his spiked boot. The blow ruined the whole right side of his face and sent him reeling back in pain. The man clutched his face, agonized, when his hand lowered holes were visible all over that side and the eye was obviously not functional anymore. The Bully's hands balled into fists and feet churned dirt as he charged toward Oddball who also flew forward to meet his opponent. Just as they were about to meet, Oddball curled up and rolled, clashing into the Bully's shins, causing him to fall forward while Oddball sprung to his feet. The Bully was trying to get up but one leg seemed to be giving him trouble. Oddball closed in on the Bully as he was half way up and stomped the his shoulder with his foot, knocking the man back to the ground where he put his left arm up to defend himself. Oddball's claws lashed out at the arm, slashing up, down, left, right, diagonal, over and over, grabbing, yanking, tearing at the man. The Bully got a foot under Oddball and kicked him in the face, throwing Oddball's small frame back through the air rolling across the ground then he scrambled to his sword and tugged it out of the ground. The two now stood about fifteen yards apart staring at each other. Oddball's nose poured blood. The whole right side of the Bully's face was covered in puncture marks and chunks of skin hung as uselessly of his left arm as it hung off his torso, now limp and bleeding profusely. Then the poison took effect. The Bullies eyes darted back and forth, his limps shook uncontrollably, and his face went pale giving away his inner panic and dread. Then, he turned and ran."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"When Oddball turned and saw me alive, staring at the Bully fleeing his jaw dropped. He rushed to my side, 'how did you…' his voice trailed off. 'Unless… defensive… maybe…' he was mumbling to himself and talking to Stickers now as he placed his claws in the pocket and picked me up.

"He carried me back to camp mumbling on all the way there so quietly that I could only catch a word or two here and there over Stickers' chatter. He said strange things like: 'defense mechanism', 'instinct', 'brain', 'T.A.T.', 'experiment' and 'hand of God'. I was far too tired and in pain to ask any questions to I just cradled my arm and pondered how a human's body could take as much damage as the Bully's had and keep fighting, then the look on his face as the poison took effect, it was horrible.

"Stickers ran up and down my body past the blood on Oddballs chest from his nose.

"I wanted to get away from it, I wanted to walk instead of being held against that red sticky fluid. But the pain was too great to bear alone.

"Overwhelmed, I closed my eyes and slipped through the barrier between reality and the realm of dreams."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The sun was now high in the sky and none had ate yet so the group took a break for lunch.

Alex and Jack pulled food from their travel packs and ate quickly then set about fixing their damaged equipment from the day before. Jack took a hammer to the dents in their armor while Alex sharpened his dagger and Jack's axe. When Alex finished Jack was still at work and the others still eating so he played with Stickers.

Alex would always take a finger and lightly prod Stickers to initiate playtime. Stickers would try to bite Alex's finger as he pulled it back out of reach then he would pro Stickers again. At this point Stickers would be up on all fours, body tense, eyeing the hand like food, and swishing his tail back and forth in the air. Stickers was an odd squirrel.

Stickers leapt forward, claws outstretched, toward Alex's left hand which moved quickly to the right. Stickers rolled past Alex's seat then scampered back for more. This time his mouth latched onto the left thumb. With a twist of his hand Alex had the squirrel and his back. Stickers clawed up at Alex's hand, Alex poked him in his chest. Stickers shrieked and clawed faster, Alex poked him again. Stickers wrapped his fuzzy body around the wrist the bit into the back of the hand. The hand jerked up and Stickers flew three feet in the air then fell back down toward the hand, biting and clawing until the hand turned over and Stickers fell to the ground. The hand came towards Stickers' head. He ducked. The hand came back. He leapt nimbly over it. The hand came back again. This time teeth sunk into the pinky finger to get a grip then Stickers flipped over the side onto the hand. Stickers took two steps then leapt to the other arm. The hand followed. Stickers flew up the arm to its shoulder then back flipped over the other hand, lashing out at it as he moved through the air. Landing on the other hand, Stickers crouched for the next attack. The hand came back. Stickers clamped down on the hand with his teeth.

It was then that Alex realized all eyes were and him and the squirrel chewing on his hand, suspended in mid air. Jack smiled while the others' mouth remained hanging open.

"Meet Stickers" Alex said. "Umm" the silence was awkward "would you guys like to continue the story?" Alex scratched Stickers behind his ears making him purr like a cat and he let go. Stickers returned to Alex's travel pack and slept.

"That was crazy" Austin laughed.

"That's gotta be the weirdest thing I've ever seen" said Paris.

"Affirmative" snickered Shane.

Everyone then broke the quiet with laughter.

"Alex, did you see when it ran up his arm and did a back flip?" said Nick.

"That was ninja" remarked James.

"Ya" smiled the girl.

"Wait" said Jack, "your name's Alex too?"

"Yup" answered the girl Alex. "Why?"

"This'll be confusing" guy Alex and Jack said at the same time.

Everyone laughed.

After a moment of thought guy Alex said: "How's about we call you Sparky?"

"Sparky?" Girl Alex looked like a secret had been found out. "Why Sparky?"

"Because" said guy Alex "you're the only one here with the fire gene."

"Ha!" Paris exclaimed "I told you! I told you stuff like that can't stay secret long!"

Shane giggled and murmured: "Sparky's a funny name." then giggled some more.

Girl Alex now looked startled. "How'd you know?" she demanded.

"Cuz when the fire was low earlier and you looked cold, the moment me and Jack turned the other way after we heard something back in the woods, the fire flared up again." Guy Alex smiled. "It's common knowledge that fire doesn't go well with ice… wouldn't you agree, Sparky?"

"Alright, you got me" girl Alex said "Sparky's a cool name anyway, thanks"

"No problem" Alex said "now is everyone ready for me to continue the story?"

"Ya"

"Sure"

"Sounds good"

"Why not?"

"Hold up" Sparky said.

The fire suddenly soared ten feet in the air. All eyes turned to Sparky, she looked around nervous.

"What? I'm freezing my butt off!"

Everyone laughed some more and the story continued.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"The dream I had was one of those dreams where you fall and fall and fall forever in a limitless void that is frightening to no end.

"In this dream however I could sense a presence in the void and it was large, mean, hideous and loud (definitely loud, I could sense its noise everywhere, loud, obnoxious, and blaring). Though I knew all this and could sense it, I could not see it, could not hear it, could not smell it. Nothing. Not a single thing. Nowhere. But the presence lingered, making loud unheard noises, being huge and hideous while hidden away. Somewhere. And this lack of location, lack of confirmable existence, is perhaps the scariest part of the dream in its entirety."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"The next time my eyes opened I was in Albert's tent. He was making a wood splint on my arm while Oddball sat at the other end attending to his broken nose.

'Hi guys' I mumbled.

Oddball looked up from his work at me. Albert started.

'I am an old man, boy, my heart cant take much excitement. Don't startle me like that.' Albert said, holding his chest.

'Sorry Albert'

'Its alright, just think first, got it?'

'Got it'

'How do you feel?'

'My arm hurts bad'

'That's cuz it broke'

'Oh'

'Your lucky to be alive' Oddball enounced. 'No one, without the defense gene, could have lived through an electric discharge like that. It would seem that you've got it.'

'I have a gene?'

'It would appear so. Though the defense gene is widely regarded as the least powerful it is, nonetheless, still something very special to possess.' said Albert.

"Steven now entered the tent. 'How are you?' he asked me.

'I have a gene Steven! Isn't it cool?'

'So I've heard' He replied.

I looked down at his hand and noticed he was carrying something in it.

'What's that?' I asked.

He opened his hand and held out a necklace. 'I want you to have this' he paused. 'so you'll never forget the good favor God has shown in giving you this gift'

"Steven handed me a necklace of a black cord with a wood cross dangling from it.

"I took it and placed it around my neck. It felt cool. The cross's surface was smooth and flawless. Steven must have put a lot of time into it.

"Albert snorted. 'there is no God'

"Steven looked saddened by this. He leaned forward and whispered in my ear: 'don't let anyone ever convince you of that' then he left the tent.

"Once Albert finished my splint I left his tent to find Steven. He wasn't in his tent, nor was he anywhere else in camp. I checked the lake nearby and found him. He was standing on a rock staring out over the surface of the lake and seemed to be deep in thought. I tapped his shoulder and he looked down, surprised.

'Why are you here? You shouldn't be this far from camp, especially not with that arm.'

'Why doesn't Albert believe in God?'

'Cuz he's as hard headed as a brick'

'Oh'

"We stood for some time looking over the water. Just looking. Then Steven said: 'You're special. In many ways. I can see from the way you're growing that you'll be tall and strong and brave. Your fighting ability may even pass me up one day. That combined with your gene will make you quite the force to be reckoned with, so I have decided…' he paused for a moment, looking me in the eye. He seemed to be looking for something. Somewhere in my dark green eyes. 'I have decided that your training should begin immediately, and I don't just mean pick pocketing. I mean combat. Maybe you'll have better luck one day at eradicating the Bullies than we have. Make the right friends, however, and you definitely will.'

'I'm not sure I want to kill people'

"Steven sighed and looked me over again. 'Sometimes' he said '… it must be done.'

"The sad tired look on his face turned into an attempt at smiling but it was still easy to tell he wasn't happy. He ruffled my dark hair and said: 'come on. Lets go get some sleep. You've had a long day.' It was cold and windy so he wrapped his cloak around me and we headed back to camp.

"Later that week I was given a name, believe it or not I did not have one at the time because Steven wanted to be sure I had one that would reflect my path in life. Because of the events that had occurred lately he believed it could wait no longer. Steven made my first name Alexander which means defender of man, because if I received some training in addition to my gene I would be very powerful and could choose to become the defender of good people, like that name means. He also made my last name Bane which means the undoing of, because also with that power I could be corrupted and choose to be the undoing of what little good has returned to the world.

"The next day we went to the local trader and Steven bought me a pocket knife tanto. It wasn't cheap, it wasn't super high quality either, kindof in the middle, perfect for a beginner like me."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"The next week I began knife training. For the first couple weeks all I was taught was the effects of different blades and different attacks until my arm healed, then practice started. Steven told me that a normal blade, like a tanto or something like that, is a good overall knife. A blade that curves forward, shaped like a talon, is almost no good for stabbing but had excellent cutting power. A curving zig-zag blade, like Steven's naga kris, causes nasty wounds that are hard to heal and often get infected. Slashing attacks sever whatever the blade touches but usually don't go deep unless much power is behind it so it is good for disabling muscles or causing bleed out. A stabbing attack will go as deep as you push so it is good for taking out vital organs like the heart or lungs. He also taught me lots of other stuff you likely don't care to hear about like people's reactions to being cut or stabbed in different places.

"When training started, Steven and I carved wooden fake training knives and practiced striking the vital parts of a human body. Heart stabs, femoral artery slashing, throat slitting, the works.

"I also found a trader who sold a thing called a 'blow-dart'. I bought one and took to it naturally, it would seem, being able to hit targets from farther away than even Albert who had one at some point earlier in his life. Albert told me that a blow-dart was good for poisoning people if I ever needed to.

"My pick pocket training continued along with the knife and stealth training. After two years of this I expanded to asking for armor training from Sticks and Stones who happily obliged saying I was never going to get close enough to use my butter knives in a fight without some protection. Oddly, my left arm only took well to Stones' heavy metal armor and the rest of me to the lightweight leather armor. Of course, I didn't use their armor, we bought some cheap armor at the nearest town and practiced with that. Steven and Oddball feared I was going to turn into a 'lumbering tin can', like other boys my age wanted to do, and not be quiet enough to sneak up on people. But, wearing mostly quiet leather armor and having the heavy metal armor on my left arm adjusted to silent, I stayed just as silent as before, putting their worries to rest. The silencing of the metal was done by wearing a long sleeve, reaching all the way down to my fingers, under the chain mail which was tightened by removing some links along the inside to reduce the space inside. Then the plates were attached tight on top so as not to move around and make noise, just like Stone's armor which was also amazingly quiet for being as durable as it was.

"In addition to all that, I was also being taught to make poisons and how to use them by Albert.

"The Five were still going around to villages and taking money for the 'disappearances' of particularly rough Bullies bothering townsfolk while training me."


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"One day the Five came to a village on a lake's shore. The people in it were the nicest we had ever met. The scenery wasn't half bad either, the lake was a spectacular blue color, the forest nearby had all kinds of critters in it and lots of trees to climb in with a few paths that looked to be popular by how trampled on they appeared, there was also a moderate sized mountain just beyond the forest with a snowy peak. To put it simple, it was a beautiful area. It was also a convenient location in its closeness to three other villages which were known for good fair trade. However, the Bullies loved to terrorize this place cuz of all the fish they caught year round. So, we made a deal with the people of the village. If we protected them from Bullies they would provide us with food and shelter. So we settled down there.

"The people made us a three story building with a basement. There were two bedrooms on top floor, two in the middle, two on the bottom, plus a kitchen and bathroom on the bottom floor, then a basement too.

"After a few years of protecting the people, we began to be called The Five Heroes because there were five warriors and two apprentices protecting the village and that is where they got the name. About a year before that was when the other apprentice joined our group.

"His name was Jack Solid. He was tall, not as tall as me, but tall. I was six foot two then and he was six foot. He was also strong and simple of mind, but in a good way. He said violence was bad, but would eagerly swing his hammers if an innocent was threatened, I thought that was funny. He was a stout person too, powerful of build, nearly unstoppable in football with the other kids. He moved into the village two years after we did. His family and him had accidentally separated long before at a carnival when Bullies showed up and chaos broke out. We became friends. He like hanging out with Stones. After a couple years he became Stones' apprentice. While I still trained under everyone, Jack trained under Stones only, preferring heavy armor over anything else. Jack did like using a two handed axe like Stones but what he liked more was his two dueling mallets.

"Me and Jack both have slow metabolisms so we must watch what we eat lest we become circular." This invoked some giggles. "But Jack's sweet tooth does get the best of him sometimes which is helpful because of the extra cushion under his already semi impenetrable armor making him nearly unstoppable in combat. But were me and Jack normal, he would be as thin as any of us so don't tease or else.

"In the obstacle course we built, instead of ducking and dodging and so forth like me, he would smash through anything in his way and almost get the same time as me. We only fought once, I barely beat him, but we don't talk about it much so as not to offend each other in any way and cause division. Like me, Jack had a gene, the manipulation gene to be exact. Together, we were nearly unstoppable."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"One day while me and Jack were messing around, exploring the nearby woods, we found a cave. This was no normal cave, it was large, it contained the remains of two humans, and there was writing on the walls. Jack was scared almost senseless but I searched the corpses. Each had a power crystal in their pants' pockets so I took them. Then we looked to the walls. There lay the story, written out on a cave wall of all places, that explained everything. Everything about the genes, the power crystals, the strange dead metal men people sometimes found, everything. It went something like this:

'Once there was a man, The Man saw the world for what it was, polluted, tainted, defiled, almost ruined. The air, the water, the animals, everything was wrong. So he set about fixing it. The Man devised a plan. He had to make something big, something people would want so very desperately that they wouldn't be able to help but get it. First he invented genes. All the genes. Offensive fire, shock, and ice, manipulative, and the much less popular, defensive gene. He made medicines that would heal people and animals, medicines that could make pets live longer, could make arthritis go away, could make the flu vanish, plague gone, all kinds of medicines. He also made the power crystals, where those with offensive genes could store their power and draw from it later when their current mental stamina ran dry. All these things he made, and he made them to gain the trust of the other humans. Once he had that, he moved on to his much more grand purpose. He made the metal slaves. The metal slaves looked human, spoke human, even acted human. But they were not human. They were slaves for the humans. The Man made the metal slaves better and better, again and again, until they could do everything a human could, they could even build new ones of themselves. So, with these new slaves at their command, The Man set them to work. Since they could do everything and could do it way better than a human, the humans did not need to work anymore. They simply sent their metal slaves to work and got paid for it. They, being by far mentally superior to humans, soon fixed all trade problems. Everyone now was happy with their income. These slaves were also told by The Man not to harm human beings. So since humans were happy and metal slaves were not going to hurt anyone, there was peace on earth. For two hundred years. Peace. The humans threw parties and festivals, shooting big balls of fire in the air, lighting up the sky with electricity, and freezing lakes so they could slide across, having so much fun under the watchful eyes of the metal slaves, who were so smart that they prevented any mistakes or negative incidences from occurring. Finally, peace. No wars, no dumb economy, no anger and malice. But there was still a problem. The air, the water, the animals. Still messed up. Because of their design, The Man's metal slaves had to let out bad stuff like all the humans' other popular items. Diseases, chemicals, germs. Problems. So, after two hundred years of peace, long after The Man had died, his own personal metal slave, which was far superior to the others, fought his way through thousands of slaves and turned off the brain that controlled them all called the "Core". The "Core" also controlled everything else that was metal in the world which the humans were completely dependent on and had no knowledge of how to resurrect because the slaves had handled that for as long as most could remember. The Man's personal slave was only capable of this because he himself was not controlled by it, he had a mind of his own, The Man had built him that way for a reason. The last slave then directed the humans on how to survive without the metal stuff that was killing the earth and made sure the humans obeyed laws still. This, however, did not last long. Many humans were mad about their metal things being gone and that anger corrupted them. They rose up against the robot one day, a couple hundred humans against one metal slave was not even nearly a fair fight, especially with the genes involved. After the slave fell, these evil humans formed an organization later nicknamed: The Bullies. No one remembers their original name, even the Bullies don't know it anymore, being proud of their wickedness and enjoying having this title that announces it so directly. So mankind was back to fighting and bickering amongst themselves. But they soon ran out of the weapons they were so dependent on called: "guns" and had to resort to swords and axes and such like humans had used thousands of years ago. So here we are, fighting and killing and going on in this grotesquely foolish way of ours, restarting from the beginning again. This beginning is only different in that we have the genes, randomly passed down to one or two children at a time by the parents that possess them. Thank goodness it's impossible to have two! The Bullies are nearing our cave now, it would seem that their leader would want no one other than him to know how we all got into this mess. We won't be able to hold them off with, us being just two men with crystals. Whoever reads this, we wish you the best of luck in spreading this information throughout the world. Best of luck also to The Five Heroes who we heard reside in a town nearby for their ever abounding annoyance to the Bullies. Thank you for…'

"It ended in a squiggle, I assume the Bullies showed up right about then."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Naturally we went back to the village to get Sticks and Stones so they could read it since the others were away to trade. They came to the cave with us, Stones grumbling the whole way about how no matter what was in the cave it wasn't worth his time.

"He quickly changed his mind when he arrived and read the wall. 'This is quite alarming' he mused 'but it all fits… this put with Oddball's weird stories and ideas would mean…'

"Stones may have been big and strong but he was far from being unintelligent, he thought about it for a long time before coming to a conclusion. Sticks on the other hand was quick to judge. 'This is rubbish' he proclaimed 'these men must have gone mad and killed themselves after writing this lame excuse for a campfire tale.' Stones looked at his older brother disapprovingly, 'the footprints outside say there were many men here. Recently too…'

"After a moment more of Stones thinking and Sticks admiring his face in the reflection of his sword, Stones suddenly exclaimed: 'Snap! We are about to get hit hard. Dangit, whoever these men were they certainly weren't bright.' Stones began to pace. 'What are you on about?' Stick asked not even looking up from his reflection. 'We need to get back to the village and dawn our armor, evacuate the village, send out messengers to warn the nearby towns, and get Oddball, Steven, and Albert back here A.S.A.P'

"Stones glared at Sticks. Sticks finally looked up from his reflection and realized: 'Oh, the Bullies are coming… that's not good.' Stones was still glaring, 'Ya! Not good! Whoever these two were, they wrote on this wall-' Stones pounded the wall with his fist to add effect to his words, 'that our village is near this cave. There are only four towns around here and our village is one of them.' More pacing by Stones and more obvious statements by Sticks like: 'Bullies aren't nice people' and 'I doubt the Bullies are coming to trade… do they trade pie? Pie is good.'

'Sticks, follow me back to the village, we're gonna get suited up and evacuate everyone' Stones finally said, on his way out the door.

'What about us?' asked Jack.

'You two said they had crystals right?'

'Right'

'Search the cave for anything else of value' Stones said 'then hide in the forest near the village and wait till we've dealt with the Bullies.'

'How's my hair look?' asked Sticks, looking at his reflection again.

'I don't care' stated Stones.

'I do' said Sticks, running his fingers through his hair.

'Come on already' said Stones, and with that they left."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Me and Jack combed the cave thoroughly. All we found was a rusty knife of no value. A half an hour after Sticks and Stones had left, we decided it was time to leave too.

"When we stepped out of the cave we could see all three of the local towns. We could see them burning. Their fires stood out so sharp against the darkness of the night that it startled me for a second, then we ran through the woods to our village. Half way there, Jack got tired from running and tripped on a root.

"He fell to the ground with a shout and released an impressively long string of curses creatively aimed at the innocent root who had fallen victim to the rude foot that kicked it before the rest of its owner fell to the ground. With a sprained ankle we both knew he'd be no good in a fight, so I helped him over to a tree where he reclined and wished me luck.

"I had to walk now, not only cuz I had not want to trip on a root and mess my leg up as Jack had but also cuz I needed to mark each tree I passed by with my pocket knife so I could find my way back to Jack later.

"When I did finally arrive at the village, there was no sign of life. Buildings were on fire. Dead Bullies lay spread across the courtyard, there had to be at least three dozen. Sticks and Stones, it would seem, did indeed brake some bones. Then I spotted them, slumped against a wall. They were not moving and I could tell, even with my bad eyes, that they would never move again. Upon closer inspection I could see that Sticks had lost a leg and bled to death, Stones' right arm had been bludgeoned till the point of uselessness, when he had to drop his axe likely, then someone had inserted a blade between his chest plate and his helmet to slit his throat.

"I knew I had to act quick because soon poor folks would be coming to strip the valuables off bodies I ran to our house, whose top floor was on fire, and looked in the door. Luckily, my and Jack's travel packs were lying by the door where we left them. They both contained, basically, all our possessions because we never liked having to search for something in our rooms, we just carried it all with us. Anyway, I grabbed our bags and ran, or jogged rather (the two bags put together was quite a load), back to Sticks' and Stones' bodies.

"Stick's left leg thigh armor was severed. The right thigh's armor was fine but would of course look weird without the left. The hiking shoes also were undamaged but were bloodstained bad and wearing that would likely not be good for my emotional health. All the armor from the waste up, though, was fine. After I dumped my old leather body armor from my pack on the ground I detached all the thick leather parts from Sticks and crammed them in my pack, leaving the thin layer meant to be worn underneath behind, and moved on to Stones' armor.

"The right arm's sleeve was obviously useless. The left arm's sleeve, on the other hand, was fine. After dumping my heavy left sleeve out on the ground I detached Stones' left sleeve, as he had shown me how to before, and stuffed it in my pack.

"For Jack, I knew he envied Stones' chest plate so I removed Jack's plate from his pack and added Stones' to it. Jack's helmet was looking a little worse for wear so I took Stones' helmet from his head and switched it with Jack's in his pack. Jack had always like Stones' throwing axes and was pretty good at using them so I took them and Stones' belt that they attached to and put them in Jack's pack.

"Then I lay Sticks and Stones in a more dignified position with their arms across their chests, took a burning piece of wood, set Sticks and Stones on fire, glanced around, to be sure no one else had shown up watching me, and disappeared into the forest."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"After finding the first of the markings on the trees, I followed them back to where Jack was. Jack got startled when I first appeared but then he was relieved.

'Where are Sticks and Stones?' he asked.

'Gone'

'Gone where?'

'Gone as in dead.'

"Jack was horrified. 'We gotta hunt down the bullies that killed them and get em!'

'That's exactly what we're gonna do.'

'Then why are we sitting round here?' Jack attempted to stand and failed, falling back on his rear.

'That's why' I said.

'What the heck is your marvelous plan then?' Jack enquired furiously, holding his ankle.

'You'll make a fire here while I go see how the others faired, then I'll come back with whoever survived. After that we can plan revenge.' I thought for a moment about what would happen if none survived. I unloaded my pack's contents and left my crystal with Jack. Then I left, bringing only my pocket knife, my flint and steel, and my empty travel pack.

"I traveled back through the forest, following the marks I had made on the trees, to the village where it was still burning. Then I took the road going toward the town where Steven, Oddball, and Albert had been heading for to trade. It was about three miles away and the fires there were beginning to die down so I would guess it was the first town that got hit. Probably the large force of Bullies had split into three, burned the other towns and searched for the five, then, not finding them in those three towns, had regrouped to come at our village.

"About half way there I found them. Having to defend Albert, in his old age, had lowered the effectiveness of Oddball and Steven it would seem. Two of the three were dead. Steven was lying in a puddle of blood almost dead.

"I ran over to Steven and knelt at his side. 'How bad are you wounded?'

'I'm afraid the training you have received thus far will have to suffice. Take what you need from us and put it to use, take my knife and my cloak, the threads are from critters with defense genes, very expensive, take our money too, it will do us no good now.'

'What?'

'Good bye, my son.' and with that, Steven breathed his last.

"Strange enough, he didn't look like I imagined he'd look if he died. He looked solemn, but not sad or mad. He had a sort of neutral expression, like when you pass someone in a market and they nod their head to you. Not glad to see you, not mad at you, just acknowledging your presence with a glance in your direction."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"These events were, obviously, devastating. But I didn't have time for remorse, and, though it was very emotional, I did need their funds and superior equipment if I was going to fight off Bullies without their help now. Besides, I have often thought to myself, Steven, Oddball, and Stones all went to heaven. Albert and Sticks, I'm afraid, were not believers so I don't know and don't want to ponder where they went.

"It was absolutely terrifying to see your mentors and, if I may, family lying dead on the side of the road with a couple dead enemies around them too, but I needed equipment and they needed, to be properly said good bye too before the scavengers showed up.

"I took from Steven his gloves, dagger, cloak, and belt. From Oddball I took his claws, his boots since his feet were a little bit larger than mine, and his shorts which were way too big for him but only slightly long on me. Don't worry, he wore shorts under those shorts so it wasn't too awkward. From Albert I only took his ingredients pouch which was layered specially so ingredients found in forests and such would not expire too soon, I had also seen him carry food that spoils quickly in it. And from everybody I took what money they had on their person, which was a lot because it was all of our money they had been taking to trade.

"Once this was done, I lined them up on the road in the same dignified manner as Sticks and Stones, arms crossed on their chests. Then I took some pine straw from the woods around this road, lit it with my flint and steel, and used that to light the three of them. With this done I watched in reverence for a moment. Then I dashed off down the path back toward my burned home."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"Once I got back to the village it wasn't so much a burning wreckage so much as it was a smoldering pile of rubble. Charred, smoking, and lifeless.

"I found my trail of cuts in trees and followed it back to Jack and found him sleeping, exhausted from the days trials. I left him alone, it must have been horrible to lose his master, I know I felt bad. I could see he was having a nightmare. I unloaded my new equipment on the forest floor and made necessary adjustments.

"Tightening the adjustment cords was necessary for the leather chest-and-back armor to fit me right. The cloak could easily be pinned to the leather body armor, with the help of a crafter, between the peck area and the strap that goes over the shoulders. Attaching the leather shoulder pad to the leather body was easy since it was designed for it. Tightening the adjustment cords on the right leather vembrace was also needed, it was wobbling around too much. The boots and shorts I wasn't going to wear till they had been cleaned. The chain mail and plate left sleeve was definitely going to need a crafter to attach. Oddball's claws fit perfect since his hands were only the tiniest bit larger than mine, but since I obviously couldn't use a dagger with claws attached, if I did I'd cut myself, so they would have to only be used by my left hand only. Steven's heavy duty belt was perfect, it had the sheath for his or rather my dagger, little compartments for vials of poison, and Albert's ingredient pouch easily attached to the rear of it. The gloves also were perfect, but I would only be wearing the right one in fights once the heavy left armor was attached to the leather body armor.

"I was, at this point, feeling somewhat depressed. I'm sure you can understand why. How was I possibly going to get revenge on the men that fell The Five Heroes with only me and one friend? The course of action was obviously to track down and kill the leader of the Bullies. But how?"


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"I was already awake the next morning when Jack woke up. He sat up against the pine tree he had slept against, yawned and stretched, then was surprised when his ankle hurt. Jack looked down at his foot, confused, and saw that he was in a forest. Then he remembered the events of the night before.

"He looked over at the large oak where I sat eating some fish I had caught and cooked the night before.

'Want some? It's a few hours old but it's still good for eating… I hope' I looked down at the pan that held the small portion of bass meat, now not so sure that it was still healthy to eat.

'No thanks' Jack mumbled. He sat for a moment in thought. 'That sucks' he suddenly said.

'What sucks?' I asked.

'What do you think sucks? Maybe that Sticks and Stones are gone? Duh.' he snapped. 'Where are the others?' he asked, seeing the equipment.

"I looked him over, trying to think of the best way to break it to him. Coming up with no ideas, I decided truth must be presented directly, as I always present it. 'They're dead.' I said simply, then went back to eating.

"Jack unleashed a slew of curses then hurled a rock at a nearby squirrel that was eating a nut. It missed. The squirrel scurried up the oak I was leaning on and made all kinds of weird noises at Jack. Then the squirrel crawled down the tree to the lowest branch and dropped into my lap. Hair stood up on it, teeth barred, and chattering poured from its mouth. It looked back and forth between me and Jack as if asking me to defend the critter. Then I realized, just as Jack was about to launch a root my in my direction merely to hit the squirrel, that the squirrel and I knew each other.

'Stop!' I shouted at Jack. 'Jeez dude, look at him. It's Stickers.'

"Jack looked skeptical and mad. 'You sure?' he examined the squirrel from his seat. 'Looks a bit scrawny'

"After that Stickers looked even more offended and started chattering again. 'Yup, that's him.' I smiled.

'Well at least we ain't lost everybody' Jack sighed. 'What next?'

'We need to get to the next town and buy some food. You'll wait with the rest of our stuff in the woods while I buy that and take care of some other business. Then we can think about how to go about avenging The Five. Sound good?' I asked.

'What other business are you talking about?' he looked quizzical.

'Adjustments for this armor.' I indicated what I had scavenged off The Five's corpses.

'Oh' he looked at the ground, thinking. When he looked up he said: 'Thanks for bringing back Stones' chest plate, but isn't it kindof wrong?'

'Wrong how?' I inquired.

'Well, wouldn't you be offended if someone took your possessions off you corps?' Jack said thoughtfully.

'First of all' I said 'without this stuff, we have no chance of beating more than two Bullies at a time. Second, I think that if I got killed, I would like nothing better than for my apprentice to kill my murderers in my honor by using my own equipment.' I paused, 'how about you?'

"Jack mulled it over and agreed.

'Good' I said 'now if it's alright with you, I think it'd be a good idea for you too eat a lil of the fish I put in your pan then pack up your stuff while me and Stickers go make you a decent staff so you can support your weight with that ankle.' I turned to walk away then remembered something and came back. 'Since neither of us have offensive genes and therefore cannot use those crystals that makes them useless to us right?'

'Yes' Jack spoke hesitantly 'why?'

'Because I was wondering if I could have yours, I've had a couple ideas on what to do with them and would like to have both handy incase the opportunity should arise. If that's ok with you of course.'

'Sure' Jack said 'why not'

'Thanks, could you just set them in my pack for me but leave the rest of my stuff alone till I return. Thanks again Jack.' Me and Stickers then walked off into the woods with my knife and my saw only. 'Be back in a lil.' I called back over my shoulder.

'Alright man.' he said.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 18**

"I looked around for awhile till I found a decently strait young tree then I sawed it down. After I chopped the branches off I tried it out. It was a decent staff, not super good but not bad either. On the way back I pondered what our next course of action must be.

"After some time I finally decided that we needed to kill the Bullies' leader. They have been a blight upon our planet for far too long if you ask me. Maybe it is an act of vengeance, maybe not, I don't know but these people need to go away, like, forever.

"When I got back to camp I presented this idea to Jack. At first he was skeptical.

'What would killing Discord do anyway? Have you thought that through?' he asked.

'Don't you always hear people say 'cut off the head of the snake, and the body dies'? If everyone says it then its probably been proven true at some point.' I countered.

'Not necessarily.'

'That water moccasin we saw the other day died pretty quick.'

'Yes, but that was a snake. Not a group of bloodthirsty villains!'

'So? If we can kill Discord, then the rest of their lil group will crumble.'

'Why do you think it will crumble Alex? There are thousands of them!'

'The fact that you overlooked something as obvious as this makes me grin, Jack. Yes, there are thousands of them.' I grinned. 'But, how many civilians are there also?'

'Millions. Why does it matter?'

'Because' I said. 'I don't think civilians enjoy being 'bullied' by 'Bullies'. Not in the least bit.' I grinned some more. 'Do you?'

"Jack smiled one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen on him. 'I here ya.'

'Sound good?'

'Amen'

"We sat in silence for a moment then Jack said. 'How do you suppose we're going to kill Discord? I mean, he's only the toughest guy on earth.'

'We'll see about that'

'Dude, have you heard the stories?'

'Yes I've heard the stupid stories.'

'He has all the offensive genes, a ginormous freakin sword, and have you heard the story about his crystals?'

'Which one? Everyone knows he has a ton of crystals but the stories vary.'

'He's got a ton alright! And they're all in his back.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'One day, he got tired of wearing necklaces and carrying bags with his power crystals in them, so he sent his Bullies out to find the best armorers in the land, and when he had them they were forced to create his suit of armor. And in that armor-'

'Oh, this story…'

'Yes, 'this story' why do you say that?'

'Because its rubbish'

'Is not! Gerald told it to me!'

'Gerald lies'

'Does not, shut it Alex'

'Whatever'

'Anyway, in Discord's thick metal armor, on the back, the armorers inlayed all his crystals in such a way that they were all close enough to his skin that he could absorb and store energy whenever he needed.'

'And the big deal is?'

'The big deal is that if we're gonna kill him, we're gonna need some friends to help us do it. Not everybody's immune to the elements like us dude.'

'So, we run in first, let him waste his energy, then our friends come in to help.'

'I'm pretty sure he wont run out before he realizes we're special.'

'Why?'

'Cuz word is there's at least forty crystals in those back plates.'


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 19**

"The rest of the day, we rested. The next day we set out for the nearest town. What I heard there was quite encouraging. While the boots and shorts were being cleaned by some person I paid to do it at a shop, I had an interesting conversation with the shop's owner.

"He said that the infamous group of resistance fighters who were very much against the Bullies, had been spotted in the woods near here, and would not likely be gone soon considering they had just arrived. He also said a few statements about the Bullies that I don't honestly care to repeat. Anyway, by the time we were done talking the shorts and shoes had been cleaned and now smelled significantly better than before.

"I went to the market, bought some food, then set out to find an armorer. There was one just a lil ways down the street that was evidently quite well known for its owner's ability. Dude that town had everything, we gotta go back some time. Anyway, he took measurements for my left arm sleeve and told me it would be ready in a couple hours since there was no waiting period because no one else was making use of his services at the time. Having nothing else to do, I went to the town's church and sat on a pew to think over the last week's events and plan my future. This church though simple in appearance on the outside and for the most part on the inside too, had a beautifully carved cross on the wall behind the pastor's podium. It wasn't gold or silver or anything fancy like that. Just wood. But the design itself was so ornate and complicated that it almost took my breath away. Too bad Jack can't see this, I thought to myself. The cross had all kinds of loops and curves that all went out to the edges of it but also all originated in the center of it. Whoever made it sure knew what they were doing.

"It was while I was examining the work of art that I heard a noise coming from the bell tower. It was a voice, a rude voice, not a big voice but definitely a hostile one. I decided to investigate. Upon entering the tower's spiral I could tell it was coming from the top of the tower. As I ascended the stairs going up the tower the voice got clearer and I began to hear a second voice. It appeared to be a loud man telling an elderly man to show him where the church's money was or he'd kill him. The man was pleading that he was just a helper in the church not the pastor or a decan and that he knew not where the money was located. The man was insisting and seemed about to kill the elderly man when I arrived at the top, exhausted.

"I saw immediately that the man was a Bully and that the elderly man was quite distressed as he rightly should be. I had only my blow dart and my knife. I quickly poisoned a dart with sleeping poison and stepped into the bell room.

'Leave the old man alone' I said.

"The man turned toward me, releasing the elderly guy who collapsed to the floor with relief. 'And why' he drew his sword 'should I do that?'

'Because' I drew my knife but kept the blow dart concealed in my cloak 'I said so'

'Really?'

'Yes, really. Now walk away and nobody gets hurt'

'Ha!' he laughed 'You hurt me? I honestly doubt that bread cutter will pierce my armor.'

"With that said, he strode toward me, sword at the ready.

'So be it' I said through gritted teeth, then I whipped my blow dart up to my mouth and fired the poisoned dart at his exposed neck. He pulled it out and continued forward. Just as he was about to swing, the poison set in and he grew faint, stumbling a lil as I moved to the other end of the room by the old man. He had a look of panic and anger on his face but still he moved toward me.

'I will do whatever I want to' he stumbled over his own words 'and no one will stop me'

'Not in the Lord's house you don't' I said.

"He charged at me, sword upraised, yelling so loud I'm sure everyone heard even before I tripped him and he fell from the tower, dieing on the ground below in the town square.

'That's gonna catch some attention' I said as I located a coil of rope lying on the floor by the old man.

'Thank you' he said 'so much.' as I tied it to a support for the bell.

'Anytime' I said, wrapping some spare cloth that was in my pocket around my hands.

"Then I grasped the rope tight with both hands and leapt out of the tower."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 20**

"Half running down the wall, half sliding down the rope burning through the pockets I had torn out and wrapped around my hands, I made my way off the bell tower. When I hit the ground I could see Bullies coming down the path through the city market toward the church. Time to go.

"With no armor, I obviously did not want to take on more than two Bullies at one time and I could see there were plenty more than that on their way. First I took off toward the armorer's shop. Once there he let me use a spare room to change out of my normal shorts into the combat shorts I had gotten from Oddball, I also put on the boots. Then he gave me the sleeve which I shoved in my pack along with my pocket-less shorts, shoes, and food. I paid him with gold then exited the shop.

"Once outside, some guy pointed at me and said 'that's him!' then Bullies were coming from everywhere towards me. I shot out of there probably faster than I've ever ran before, tipping over stalls, cutting through alleys, throwing a stray cat or two in their direction, anything to slow the Bullies down. I think the spikes on the bottom of the boots greatly improved my traction as I zoomed through puddles and such without even slipping once. In the end, I made it out of town and back to camp where Jack was snoozing.

'Here's your food.' I tossed some bread his way and unloaded the rest.

"Jack woke up confused then examined the bread that had landed in his lap. 'I don't like this bread.' he said.

'Do you have any freakin idea what I had to do to get this back here for you?!?!' I now realized I was breathing quite deeply and not far from collapsing in a disheveled heap on the ground. Instead, I sat.

'Jeez dude, what happened?'

'Got chased.' I said simply.

'What'd you do this time?' Jack asked accusingly.

'Saved some old guy.' I also said simply.

'You're gonna get us killed one of these days helping people.'

"I sighed. 'It'll be worth it. Now enjoy that food, and don't complain.'

'What's wrong with complaining?' Jack joked. 'Its not like it reflects feelings of unthankful ness.'

'You're funny, you know that?'

'Ya, I know.'

"Jack and I both ate then packed up our things and set out to look around in the woods for the resistance fighters, or rather: you guys. What we found was not what we expected."


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 21**

"I'm sure you all can understand how odd it must have been for us to come across a large clearing in the woods and see three people up in a tree flinging arrows, fire, and fire on arrows down upon thirty or so Bullies while two guys with swords and one guy with a peculiar pair of knives down in the midst of the Bullies fighting against them, seemingly with the goal of keeping them away from the tree. Naturally we knew this was you resistance fighters but we didn't expect to see ya'll fighting Bullies in the woods or for your numbers to be so few.

"With only my boots and shorts on but not the rest of my armor I could not help fight so many Bullies so I stayed back and poisoned some darts with temporary paralysis poison. Jack on the other hand already had his boots, gauntlets, and chain mail pants on so all he had left to dawn was his body armor, shoulder pads, and helmet, which didn't take long. Once that was done he charged in the crowd of bullies, swinging his hammers wildly.

"A path was quickly cleared coming in from the back of the Bully group to the three resistance fighters before they even realized what was going on. Most of the fallen Bullies that had been downed were not actually dead as you all must know but just knocked unconscious by the blows from Jack's hammers to the back of their helmeted heads or stuck with paralysis poisoned darts from me. Just as one Bully was running toward Jack with his spear at the ready I sent a dart his way which luckily found its mark in his arm sending him to the ground unmoving within five seconds of striking, he fell just close enough to Jack that the spear's point grazed his leg. This of course did nothing because of Jack's armor and Jack in fact didn't even appear to have felt it. Shortly after that, the Bullies appeared to realize that they were badly outclassed so they turned and fled.

"All of us rejoiced greatly then, but being too tired to feel any desire to make introductions and it being near nightfall I suggested that we retire for the night and explain ourselves in the morning. All agreed so I and Jack went among the unconscious Bullies and found as many of my darts as we could then tied the hands of the living unconscious Bullies and discarded them in a tighly packed area of thorny vines nearby. After that we went to you all's camp and lay down for bed.

"Not long later we heard cursing and loud 'pain' noises from the awakening Bullies as they found themselves bound in a thorny patch and attempted to escape their bonds in the dark. I snickered to myself, happy that they wouldn't be bothering us for some time."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 22**

"So, here we are" said Alex.

"Well, thanks for the help" Sparky said.

"No problem"

Austin smiled like he was on the verge of bursting into an uncontrollable fit of laughter type of thing.

"You messed up a detail" he chuckled.

"And that would be?" Alex inquired.

Austin snickered a little bit more then said: "Those 'peculiar knives' you mentioned weren't knives"

"Then what were they?"

"Icicles"

"And where did you get them?"

"I'm an iceman, I make them." Austin snickered some more.

"Well that was unexpected" said Jack.

"Ya, I would have never guessed that you would have the ice gene" Alex mused "most people with ice are grumpy and cold hearted mean terds."

"Yup" giggled Shane "that's Austin"

"Shut up" Austin said.

"See? Grumpy- ow!"

"I said shut up" Austin tossed the icicle he had stabbed Shane with into the fire and it melted.

"Jeez" Alex remarked "you are grumpy"

Everyone laughed. "I'll stab you too!" Austin shouted.

"Austin, your dumb" said James "Alex is like me, he already said that he's got the defense gene" James laughed "if one of your ice pokers get within two inches of his skin it'll just evaporate."

"You got it too?" Alex asked James.

"Yup"

"Nice"

"Austin forgets a lot on account of his limited brain capacity" laughed Nick.

"Shut up, I know you ain't got the stupid defense gene" Austin, along with everyone else, was just joking now and meant nothing serious.

"I don't care, if we did fight, by the time your ice touched me my katana would have removed your head." Nick grinned

"I'm tougher than you'd think" Austin said indignantly.

"Fire beats ice" Sparky added into the conversation.

"Neither of you can touch me" Alex said.

"Or me" added James.

"Send something my way and I'll use it later on somebody else" Jack smiled.

"Ya, that'd probably be a good idea" Sparky said.

"What would?" Jack asked.

"Using it on somebody else" Sparky shrugged "after all, it would be pretty dumb to send fire at a fire gene person or ice at an iceman or electric at a zapper considering offensive genes are immune to their own kind of element."

"True" said Jack.

"Anyway, down to business" said Alex "do ya'll or do ya'll not want to help us kill Discord?"

"Ya, lets do it!" said Paris.

"Sounds good" said Shane.

"Nope" said Austin.

Everyone turned to look at him "Why?" asked Alex.

"Cuz he's tough" Austin said.

"He's killing people"

"So?"

"That's bad!" Alex looked flabbergasted "wow, you are cold hearted"

"No I'm not"

Alex thought for a moment "You're right, you're not cold hearted"

"Thank you" Austin growled.

"You're not cold hearted" Alex grinned mischievously "you're just a scared coward"

"Say what?!?!" Austin yelled.

"You just got served!" said Shane "how does it feel?"

"Yup" Alex stopped grinning now and changed his face to a serious expression "if you weren't scared you would definitely help"

Austin looked around, mad, at everyone's faces. Then, with a hopeless sigh he said: "Fine, I'll come"

"Good" said Alex.

"Well, whether we want to or not isn't really the big problem" said Sparky.

"What is?" asked Jack.

"We're not so sure if we're good enough to beat him" said Paris "we've thought about killing him before"

"Let me explain" said Sparky "we are in an awkward position." Sparky thought for a couple seconds then continued. "to put it simple, we are not powerful enough to beat Discord and the men surrounding his lair up in the mountains. But we do know how to become that powerful."

"And how is that?" Jack asked.

"Have either of you ever heard of the Flaming Forest?" Sparky asked.

"Only rumors" said Alex.

"Well, in that forest is a tower. A massive tower that dwarfs all others as the stories go. And in that tower are the witches and wizards that made the Talents."

"I heard of the Talents once" Jack said "they say few have ever been able to obtain them"

"That's because they are only able to be gotten from the witches and wizards in the Flaming Forest which is debatably one of the most dangerous places in the world" Sparky said "not only because of the fact that most of the creatures that were created or altered back when the metal slaves were still alive now reside in the Flaming Forest, but also because these witches and wizards perform experiments on these critters, making them even more dangerous" Sparky sighed "so our idea was to go to the tower and get some Talents then go fight Discord"

"Sounds simple" Alex said.

"Ya, too simple." Sparky corrected "the problem is that we are not nearly powerful enough to even think about trying to get to the tower without dieing. At least, we weren't. now that you two are here we might have a chance."

"Well that's ironic" Jack grinned.

"What is?" asked Paris.

"It's just that ya'll weren't powerful enough, so you found a thing to make you more powerful, but you weren't powerful enough to even get that" Jack grinned some more "that's funny"

"What are you talking about?" asked Paris.

"Never mind" said Jack.

"So, when do we set out?" asked Alex.

"Three days" said Sparky "think that's enough time for your ankle to heal up all the way so your not tripping around in a fight like last night?"

Jack glanced up from his seat "ya"

"Alright then" Sparky said "rest up everyone, in three days we set out to change history. How's that sound?"

Paris smiled "Pretty good"


	24. Chapter 24

_**Chapter 23**_

_Jack was gazing out at the sunset "it's almost nightfall"_

"_Yup" Alex said._

"_Better get someone on lookout duty, after yesterday the Bullies might want revenge" Jack said thoughtfully._

"_It was only about thirty of em." Alex considered "And anyway, only five died. The others likely woke up in that brier parch and ran off."_

"_All the same, it'd probably be better"_

"_Ok, I see your point" Alex agreed "I'll go talk to the others and see what they think"_

_Alex walked off toward the camp away from the hill Jack was on and into the forest. Alex arrived to find Shane and Austin wrestling on the ground._

"_What are they doing?" Alex asked curiously._

"_Being dumb" Nick said simply._

"_They're just messin around" said Sparky._

"_Ok" Alex said hesitantly. After watching for a moment he asked: "Who's in charge of yall's lil group?"_

"_That would be me" Sparky said._

"_Really?"_

"_What?" Sparky was offended "You think a girl can't lead?"_

"_No" Alex replied "I just had no idea who was in charge."_

"_Ok" Sparky said with a glare "Why?"_

"_Jack brought something to my attention, I was wondering what your group's leader would think."_

"_And that would be?" Sparky asked._

"_Jack thinks we might should post a lookout incase the Bullies want revenge after yesterdays lil scrap" Alex stated "what's your opinion?"_

_Sparky thought for a moment then made up her mind. "Sounds like a good idea, thanks for telling me"_

"_No problem"_

"_I'll post Shane on lookout duty. He's hyper enough to go four days without sleep probably" Sparky decided "Sound good?"_

"_I have a sleeping problem" Alex said "Sometimes I don't sleep at all. I can stay up too if you think it'd help"_

"_Sure" Sparky agreed "just incase his never ending amount of energy does, for some reason, fail"_

"_I'll tell him" Alex volunteered_

_Alex walked over to where Shane and Austin were wrestling. Shane had Austin almost pinned, but Alex just grabbed Shane under his armpits and hoisted him off Austin._

"_What the heck!" Shane startled._

"_Save your energy, we got lookout duty tonight." Alex said._

"_Ok" Shane said cheerfully "hear that Austin?"_

"_Hear what?" Austin got up to his feet and dusted himself off._

"_Me and the tall guy got lookout duty" Shane smiled deviously._

"_So?" Austin looked quizzical._

"_So" Shane said, still smiling "we're gonna play all kinds of pranks and crap on you once you're asleep"_

"_Do that" Austin threatened "and I'll kill you"_

"_You sure about that?" Alex toyed._

_Austin looked from Alex to Shane then back to Alex. "Ya'll suck"_

"_Well" Alex grinned and looked at Shane "that was rude maybe we should get him really good tonight"_

"_How bad?" Austin looked horrified._

"_Austin" Alex shook his head "I weep for your soul buddy"_

"_Dangit" Austin walked over to his stuff and began to pack it all into a sack._

_Alex and Shane walked back out of the forest to where Jack had been standing on the hill. He was still there and Nick and James had joined him. They appeared to be comparing weapons._

"_Wazup?" Alex asked._

"_Nuthin much" Jack replied "just talking about the tools of our trade."_

"_Ah, an interesting topic" Alex smiled "so, is it safe for me to assume that everyone else here considers if a bad idea to fight Bullies with a dagger?"_

"_A dagger?" Nick laughed "wow, that's ridiculous"_

"_That's like attacking a bear with a butter knife!" laughed James._

"_A dagger?" Shane snickered "I'd shoot you dead with my bow"_

"_Don't be so sure about that" Jack warned "Ya'll saw me fight right?"_

"_Ya"_

"_You were awesome"_

"_Aw, I've seen better" everyone looked at Shane "just kidding, you're a beast"_

"_Dipstick" Nick spat._

"_Anyway" Jack said "Alex is just a wee tiny bit better"_

"_With a dagger?" Nick asked, surprised "that's talent"_

"_Speaking of talent" Alex ventured "what are the different types of talents? I've only heard stories, vague ones at that."_

"_Let me see…" James said "there's telekinesis, Alex- oops, I mean Sparky- wants that one" James thought again "there's one that lets you bend time a lil bit, another lets you have crazy good senses."_

"_Ooooo, don't forget that bone thing" Nick said._

"_Oh, ya, that one" James said "it lets you grow your bones out in whatever manner you wish in a matter of seconds"_

"_With Alex's bones" Jack said "if he got that he could do some crazy stuff"_

"_Ya" nick said "but it's extremely painful I hear"_

"_Dude" Alex spoke up "I'm pretty sure I can take it"_

"_Ya" Jack agreed._

"_Hey" Nick said "weren't there a couple that would make you move faster?"_

"_Ya" James remembered "there's the time bender which I already said lets you effect time a lil bit and then there's teleport. I heard you only teleport up to ten feet but still that's quite an improvement from no teleport."_

"_What about ghost?" Nick asked._

"_Ghost" James chuckled "is not something you want to get"_

"_Why?" Alex inquired._

"_Because" James chuckled some more "everyone who's had it has lost their minds. It's like dooming yourself for an immense amount of power"_

"_They go insane?" Alex grinned._

"_Yup" James smiled "strait up crazy within two years"_

"_Worse than Shane" Nick laughed._

"_Ssshhhhh!" Shane said "Don't tell anybody! You'll blow my cover!"_

"_That's funny" Alex said._

"_But anyway" James refocused everyone present "the ghost talent does give it's owner a crazy advantage… that is… until they go insane"_

"_What's it do exactly?" Jack asked._

"_It's crazy dude" James had a look of awe on his face "I saw a guy with it in a town once, he was already insane when I saw him. What it appeared to do was let him hover in the air, float across the ground, go wherever the heck he wanted! Through walls, down through the ground, whatever. It was amazing. Though, when he came up from the ground he was screaming about a rude man or something."_

"_Then what happened?" Jack asked._

"_The folks from the funny farm came and got him." James snickered._

"_What?" Alex asked, not getting the humor of it._

"_Well" James said "if they lock him up he'll just float back out like a ghost. It sounds pretty dumb to worry with it. He hadn't hurt anyone."_

_It got quite after that as everyone thought it over._

"_Well" Alex finally spoke "we'd probably better go back to camp, it's late and me and Shane need to ask Sparky where we need to hang out tonight."_

"_Ya" Shane agreed._

_The small group on the hill turned and headed back for camp after Alex lit a stick for a torch with his flint and steel. There was much tripping on the way but when they neared camp Shane called for silence._

"_Maybe we can sneak up on em" he said._

"_And do what?" Alex asked._

"_Whatever we want" Shane replied._

"_Sounds good" said Jack._

_When they came out into the clearing that was their camp, Shane took lead and peaked out from the twisted wad of vines and undergrowth they were hid behind. When he looked back at the others he was smiling._

"_Guys" he snickered "look"_

"_What is it?" Nick said._

"_They're snuggling by the fire again" Shane giggled._

"_Who?" Alex asked._

_Shane looked puzzled. Then it dawned on him. "Oh" he said "I forgot, ya'll are new to the group" He peaked back around the plants again. After a second he turned around and said: "if your gonna be in our group then you ought to know Paris and Sparky go out"_

_Alex looked confused "Out where?"_

_Shane's jaw dropped, Nick stifled a laugh, James shook his head._

"_He means 'out' type of 'out' you know?" Jack explained._

"_Oh…" Alex smiled "I got an idea"_

"_Like what?" Shane asked._

"_Check this" Alex said._

_Alex peaked out, leaned back behind the cover of the plants, then cleared his throat. Shane had a look of 'what the heck' on his face as did James and Nick also. Nick looked at James in silent question. James shrugged his shoulders in clueless gesture. Alex then moved his right hand up in front of his face then back down and up again all the while breathing in and out very slowly._

"_Oh lord" Jack said covering his smile with his hand to keep from laughing out loud._

"_What's he doing?" asked Shane._

_Jack snickered quietly "Getting ready to act"_

_Shane thought for a second. "Act how?"_

_Jack was about half a centimeter from bursting into uncontrollable laughter. "You're the first person I've met who's got less common sense than Alex!"_

"_But what's he doing?" Shane insisted._

"_Just watch" Jack said "he's done this junk lots of times, it's hilariously retarded"_

_Alex leaned out from behind the plants. Then he leaned back. _

"_Where's Austin?"_

"_I dunno" Shane said._

"_Oh well"_

_Alex leaned back out, looked from one side to the other, then got down on his belly and crawled around unseen in the grass to the log where Sparky and Paris sat by the fire._

"_It's hot out here tonight" Sparky said._

"_That's cuz you're here" Paris said._

"_That's the cheesiest line ever" Alex whispered just loud enough for the group behind him to here. They snickered._

_Paris startled. "What was that?"_

"_Nothing" Sparky said "just the wind"_

_Paris consented to this explanation and relaxed._

"_Why do you suppose it's as hot as it is?" Sparky proposed._

"_They're called camp fires" Alex whispered again. More snickering._

"_Did you hear that?" Paris asked._

"_Hear what?" Sparky asked._

"_Nothing I guess" Paris said, relaxing again._

_They sat quiet for a moment. Then Sparky said: "So what do you think of the new guys?"_

"_I dunno" Paris said "they seem alright. The tall skinny one's a bit odd though."_

"_So is Shane!" Alex whispered. There was more snickering in the woods and a "HEY!" likely from Shane then a slightly muffled noise which Alex guessed was Nick silencing Shane's noise. Then Paris stood up._

"_I know I heard something" he said "and it won't the wind"_

"_Don't be paranoid" Sparky said "Come on. Sit down"_

"_Don't do it! She gots koodies!" Alex whispered._

"_What was that?" Sparky said._

"_It came from right there" Paris said pointing at where Alex lay. A fireball erupted from Sparky's hand, flying toward Alex's spot in the grass._

"_Oh jeez" he muttered just before being engulfed in flames. Then just as quick as it had happened the fire was gone from him and he lay there still unharmed. There was however a ring of fire around him on the grass._

"_He's not burnt" Paris said._

"_Shoot him!" Sparky hissed._

_Paris popped his bow up off the ground into his hand with his foot skillfully then knocked and arrow and drew back all in under five seconds._

"_Crap! Don't shoot me!"_

_By now the group in the woods had emerged and was jogging over toward the fire laughing hysterically. Jack fell on the ground from laughter and could not arise for some time when he reached the fire. Right about now Paris realized what was going on and put the arrow back in its quiver and lay the bow down._

_Alex was rolling on the ground yelling: "Immolation! Immolation! She's a witch I tellz ya!" which made Jack laugh even harder._

"_Shut up dude," he said "before I fudge myself"_

"_Sorry" Alex replied from the ground._

"_What the heck were you doing?" Paris demanded._

"_Messin" Alex replied._

"_Well" Paris said "that 'messin' almost got you shot"_

"_Indeed it did" Alex admitted with a grin._

"_I hope you don't do a lot of messin" Sparky said grouchily._

"_Oh don't worry" Alex said, still on the ground patting on the grass fires to put them out with his defense gene "I'm only messin on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, the day before Tuesday, the day before that, and the days before and after Fridays"_

_Sparky thought for a second then said: "huh?"_

_Jack started laughing all over again as did Shane._

"_Well I gotta admit" said Paris "that was pretty funny"_

"_Ya" Sparky said "if you were normal you'd be dead"_

"_And you'd feel guilty" Alex replied._

"_Ha ha" Sparky said sarcastically "then I'd throw a going away party for you and dance on your grave"_

"_Ooooo" Alex joked "that hurt"_

"_I hope so" Sparky said looking around "anybody seen Austin?"_

"_Naw" Jack said "but it's about time to hit the hay"_

"_I guess he wandered off again" she sighed "well the lil dummy ought to be back in the morning like usual. Shane, Alex. Find a comfortable spot in tree to lookout from and tie yourselves to it so you don't fall"_

"_I know how to stake out in a tree you know" Alex said in a matter-of-fact way._

"_Whatever" she yawned "I'm off to bed. Good night everyone"_

_Sparky turned to walk over to her sleeping bag. Shane started._

"_Wait!" he said to her._

"_What now?" Sparky said tiredly._

"_Can I have some candy?" Shane asked._

"_What for?" she asked sounding exhausted._

"_To help me stay up" he replied simply._

_Sparky sighed "Sure, whatever. Just don't eat to much"_

"_Ok"_

_Shane ran over to the food bags and brought out a pouch of candy. After that Paris unstrung his bow and everyone went to bed except Alex and Shane who climbed up a tree then tied down and Austin. Shane had a small knife and hung his quiver and bow from the branch above, the bow unstrung in its leather sheath with the string in a pouch on the sheath and Alex had his blow dart attached to his belt as always along with his Naga Kris dagger and his pocket knife in his pocket._

_The night was eventless until Austin came back._


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 24**

You could tell Austin was trying really hard to sneak into camp as quiet as he could so no one would bother him, but since Shane had a vantage point in the tree, sound wasn't Austin's issue.

"Yo" Shane hissed "Alex"

"What is it?" Alex whispered back.

"Take a look" Shane grinned in the dark.

Alex squinted at the camp. Colors swam and mixed before his eyes. The almost extinguished fire was a tiny orange blur in a black background with what looked like a circle of potatoes around it which he knew were actually his sleeping friends. But, he could just barely make out the outline of a slightly short person, kind of scrawny, no more than a hundred pounds.

"Isn't that Austin?" Alex asked quietly.

"Yup" Shane said as opened his pocket knife and stabbed the tree with it. Shane prod the slit in the bark with his finger, seemingly considering its value, the put his knife back in the groove and widened it.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked.

"Getting some sap" Shane spoke like it was the most natural thing in the world "what's it look like I'm doing?"

"I dunno" Alex answered "what's the sap for?"

"Sticky arrows"

"What?"

Shane sighed like he was tired of dealing with dumb people.

"Just watch" he whispered.

Alex looked over at Austin, now in his sleeping bag on the ground with the others, then back at Shane. Shane pulled three arrows from his quiver and lay them in his lap. Then he took his knife and cut the tips from the arrows and dropped them. He wiped the tree sap off his pocket knife on the branch below him and returned it to his pocket. Reaching into another pocket, Shane withdrew a large wad of cotton. He tore off a smaller wad of the cotton then picked up a tipless arrow. He took the end of the arrow that had lost its tip and put it in the slit in the tree which now oozed sap. He twisted it and moved it around until there was a decent sized glob sap on the end then put the small wad of cotton on it and wrapped the fuzzy material around the sap until there was a sphere of sticky cotton attached to the end of the shaft. After doing the same to the other two arrows he strung his bow and put the first one on it. After drawing the string back he squinted down the shaft and took aim. He released the arrow and it whistled through the air ending in a solid 'thunk' in Austin's midsection. That 'thunk' noise was quickly followed by a string of curses and loud noises.

Alex snickered.

"Ssshhhhh! Listen" Shane whispered.

Alex turned his head so his right ear was facing camp to hear better.

"What the hell!" Austin shouted.

The air grew cold and the fire died out. Now everyone was awake in the dark.

"Austin what's going on?" Sparky asked.

"I don't know!" Austin yelled "sumthin hit me!"

"You were probably dreaming" Paris scoffed "retard"

"Shut up! It won't a dream!"

"Austin, just go to sleep" Sparky said.

"I'm telling you" Austin said "something freakin hit me"

"Dude" Nick growled "I am about this close to ripping your larynx out"

James laughed and Jack yawned.

"Man" Jack said "it was probably just a pine cone"

"Whatever" Austin rolled over facing away from everyone else.

Everyone one around the charred remnants of the fire went silent again now. Alex grinned and looked over at Shane who was trying so hard not to laugh the his branch was shaking.

"Dude, that was awesome" Alex whispered.

"Ya" Shane said "he totally freaked"

"I meant the shot" Alex corrected "this has to be at least forty yards away and we're in a tree"

"This is easy stuff" Shane said dismissively "and I'll be making that shot again in about an hour"

"Actually" Alex considered the various impacts what targets would have on the conversation at ground level. "do you think you might could shoot Jack?"

"Sure" Shane said "he's twice the target Austin is"

"Hey, don't be rude"

"Well it's true" Shane whispered.

"Ya" Alex admitted "I guess your right"

An hour later, when everyone had fallen back asleep, Shane restrung his bow and aimed for Jack.

It hit him right on the shoulder. Shane leaned forward with anticipation hoping for another loud string of harsh words to erupt into the night but was disappointed when Jack only snored.

"Dude" Shane hissed "you just made me waste an arrow"

"I didn't make you shoot him!" Alex whispered "I just requested it"

"Whatever" Shane said louder than he should have.

Austin heard it and woke up. Alex heard Austin's noise as he sat up in his sleeping bag and looked around the circle.

"What was that noise?" Austin said loudly.

All but Jack woke up. Nick groaned.

"Will you shut up and sleep!" Nick shouted.

"Something ain't right dude" Austin said as the air got cold again.

Jack woke up confused and looked around at the group dazed. "What's going?" on he asked.

"Shane" Alex whispered.

"Huh?" Shane said while the others' arguing amused him.

"Shoot Austin again"

"What?" Shane said a little too loud again.

"Hey!" Austin said "I heard that! You retards better quit it before I come up there!"

"S****!" Shane cursed.

"Dude!" Alex tapped Shane's shoulder "shoot him"

"Good idea" Shane drew back and fired the last sticky arrow.

With another whistle and another 'thunk' Austin now had an arrow sticking strait off his forehead by the sap oozing from the cotton wrapping.

"I'm gonna kill you!" he shouted, flinging the arrow off into the forest's undergrowth "Do you know how hard sap is to get rid of?!?!"

"Austin, don't lie!" Shane shouted back playfully "just freeze it like last time and toss it in the woods"

Austin called Shane a few choice words including ones that were along the line of 'donkey hole' and 'piece of poop' then froze the sap while still cussing. Then he flung it away and lay down, again, still cussing.

"He gots a dirty mouf" Alex smirked.

"Ya" Shane agreed.

"Maybe we should let em sleep now"

"I guess" Shane said disapointed.

"If we don't, Austin might end your life" Alex remarked.

"Austin? No" Shane snickered "Austin has a hot temper is all, tomorrow he'll be laughing about it"

"Really?" Alex asked, surprised.

"Ya" Shane said "Nick, on the other hand, I may be running from come morning"

"Well" Alex said "have fun with that"

"I will" Shane grinned.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 25**

"Good morning Shane"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!"

The scene Alex woke up to after Shane had said he would take over for awhile and then had fallen asleep himself without waking Alex back up went something like this: Nick had climbed up the tree to Shane's branch and shoved him off. Shane, being tied to the tree, was now upside down. Nick took advantage of this to drop down to the branch below Shane's so that they were at eye level. Shane was still yelling and going crazy until Nick gagged him with a sock. Shane tried to pull it out but Nick had a rope and was already tying Shane's arms and legs together. Once that was done, Nick took another coil of rope off his shoulders and tied it around Shane's waste while he squirmed. Nick looped the new rope tied around Shane's waste over the branch above, then, while grasping the new rope tightly with one hand, he drew his katana and cut the old one holding Shane in the tree. Shane fell three feet then stopped. Nick slowly lowered him down, Shane kicking and wiggling the whole way. Nick stopped Shane's descent down the tree at about five feet from the ground then tied the rope to another branch. Nick turned toward Alex as he dusted off his hands.

"Wasup?" Alex said with a yawn.

"Nuthin much" Nick replied.

"Ah" Alex said "same here"

"Well" Nick turned away "see ya"

"Hey, wait up" Alex said as Nick started down the tree.

In just a short bit they were at the bottom of the tree next to Shane.

"Mmmmmmfffffff!" Shane's cries were muffled through the sock. Nick just smiled and walked away, Alex followed.

"Is this normal?" Alex asked.

"Ya" Nick said "pretty much"

Nick and Alex crossed the clearing to camp in silence. When they arrived Alex found out that everyone else was still asleep. Nick walked over to James and leaned down to tap his shoulder. Nothing happened. Nick tapped again. This time James stirred and woke up.

"What's going on?" James asked sleepily.

"Shane's gonna be a little bit late for today's breakfast is all" Nick said "nothing important"

"Oh" James smiled "payback?"

"Yup" Nick frowned "took hours to get back to sleep"

"And Austin?" Alex asked.

Nick was about to say something but James interrupted.

"I'll take care of that" James said.

Nick went around waking the others up while James got ready for the day and Alex walked over to his backpack. It was stuffed, even with half its contents on the ground. Alex was just then considering purchasing a new one when he saw the two crystals he and Jack had found. He looked over at Sparky who was still half asleep.

"Heads up!" Alex shouted.

Sparky's hands flew up to as best a combat stance as a half asleep person can muster. Alex tossed the crystals toward her which she barely saw in time to catch. She did, however, only catch one. The other hit Paris's head as he sat up in the sleeping bag next to Sparky's.

"What's for breakfast- ow!" was Paris's words exactly.

"What's this?" Sparky said. Then, realizing what they were, she added: "ooooooo, thanks"

"No thanks" Paris said laying back down.

Austin had walked up and turned Alex around. He looked puzzled.

"Where's Shane?" Austin asked.

"I dunno, probably up in a tree or sumthin" it was halfway true at least.

"Yo, Alex" Jack said "what are we doing today?"

Alex thought for a moment. "We should probably wash our clothes, I'm wearing my last pair"

"I don't feel like it today" Jack mumbled.

"Why?"

"Cuz" Jack said "we're about to go fight the toughest person in the world in three days, laundry just doesn't sound interesting compared to that"

"Well" Alex considered his options "we could pay somebody to do it for us"

"Like who?" Jack asked.

"Like somebody in that town over there" Alex pointed.

"Weren't you there day before yesterday?" Jack tried to remember.

"Ya" Alex answered.

"Oooooo" Jack exclaimed "or we could beat up a Bully and have him do it"

"No" Alex said "that wouldn't be protecting anyone"

"It'd protect us from laundry duty"

"Real funny dude"

"What're ya'll talking about?" Paris had walked over.

"Laundry" Alex said "and how to avoid washing it"

"Well" Paris said "there's a lady in town that does it for us… for a small fee"

"See!" Alex pointed at Jack "told you!"

"Whatever" Jack busied himself with breakfast.

"We're all out of money though" Paris said grimly.

"What's ours is yours" Alex said.

"Thanks" Paris's face lit up "what do ya'll got?"

"Nuthin" Alex said.

Paris frowned. "Wow, that's really helpful"

"Ya" Alex smiled "I know"

James walked by. "I'm gonna get some water, be right back"

"Where's the water?" Jack asked.

"There's a lil stream back here in the woods" James said.

"Lemme come I'm thirsty" Jack said "I'll help you carry it back to be boiled"

"Sounds good" James said and walked off with Jack.

"So" Alex said "wanna go get the lady to wash our clothes?"

"We have no money" Paris said.

"But Bullies do" Alex said.

"Ah" Paris said "I like the way you think"

"I don't!" Shane was back.

"Hi Shane" Alex said "how was your morning?"

"Not good" Shane whimpered "jeez dude, I got rope burn everywhere!"

"Wanna help us get our clothes to not smell like week old waste product?" Alex grinned.

"Sure" Shane said "so long as I'm away from Nick for awhile"

"Hi Shane" Nick said from two feet behind him.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" Shane ran off into the woods.

"Meet us in town!" Alex yelled after him.

"Got it!" Shane yelled back "Aaaaaaaaaagh!" Nick almost got him.

"He's retarded" Paris said.

"It can't be that bad" Alex replied.

"I honestly can't tell" Sparky said.

Alex and Paris laughed.

"While ya'll are out" Sparky said "get everyone's clothes done"

"Sure" Alex said.

"Dangit" Paris said.

After collecting everyone else's dirty laundry and packing it into two backpacks, Paris and Alex left down the road to town.

"This is a well used road" Alex observed.

"So?"

"So" Alex explained "this is where we'll get our money"


End file.
